Americans Smash Relay World Record

SWIMMING

August 13, 1995|By SHARON ROBB Staff Writer

ATLANTA - — After a little last-minute lineup reshuffling, the United States broke the world record in the 400-meter freestyle relay Saturday night in the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships before a sellout crowd of 3,080 chanting "USA, USA, USA."

David Fox, a former Fort Lauderdale swimmer, Joey Hudepohl, Jon Olsen and Gary Hall Jr. broke the 7-year-old record in 3:15.11, the first world record in the Olympic pool at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center.

The previous record of 3:16.53 was set at the 1988 Seoul Olympics by Chris Jacobs, Troy Dalbey, Tom Jager and Matt Biondi.

Fox switched to leadoff leg and Hudepohl second when the swimmers decided Hudepohl had more relay takeoff experience than Fox. They convinced U.S. coach David Marsh of Auburn to change the order at the last minute when they told him it was the best way to break the world record.

"It's just that David has been out of college for a while and Joey was fresh off NCAAs and relay takeoffs," Olsen said. Hudepohl attends Stanford.

Fox was out in 23.11 for the first 50.

"When I saw Dave's split I knew we could do it," Hudepohl said. "This shows the world that no one is going to take it from us. I think we've still got a 3:14 in us."

The relay was two seconds below record pace going into the final 100 with Hall swimming anchor leg. His split was 48.51.

"They blew it away," Marsh said.

The first three splits were 49.32, 49.11 and 48.17.

"We have been thinking about this one for a long time," Olsen said. "The record was 7 years old and it was time for this one to go down. This was a perfect team to do it."

Fox said he didn't mind the last-minute shuffle. They had been working on takeoffs and he didn't feel confident, he said.

"We want to send the message that we're the best relay in the world in this event and we did that," Fox said.

Fox left Fort Lauderdale last year and trains with the national resident team in Colorado Springs.

The 400-meter freestyle relay team has never lost in the Olympics, World Championships, Pac Pacifics or Pan American Games.

"We own this race," Hudepohl said.

The U.S. women's 400-meter free relay team also won a gold medal with Amy Van Dyken, Angel Martino, former FLST swimmer Melanie Valerio and Jenny Thompson in 3:41.59. The only other American winners were 15-year-old Brooke Bennett in the 400-meter freestyle in 4:10.46 and former FLST swimmer Trippi Schwenk in the 200 backstroke in 1:58.87.

Heading into the final day of competition, the United States leads the medal count with a total of 30, including 11 gold. Australia has 24 overall and eight gold.

Call him Mr. Medley

Paul Nelsen of the Fort Lauderdale Swim Team will try to make a statement in today's 200-meter individual medley.

Nelsen, 24, is the top-ranked American in the 200 IM this year behind Canada's Curtis Myden and Australia's Matthew Dunn and ahead of former American record holder Eric Namesnik. He has the third fastest all-time performance (2:02.11).

To loosen up for today's race, Nelsen swam Saturday in the 100-meter butterfly. He finished 25th in 55.64, an average time he said.

"I knew today was just a preparatory race," Nelsen said. "I want to be relaxed this morning, just have a really smart race and be really controlled."

Underwater glide

Part-time Palm Beach resident Melvin Stewart, 26, continued his revolutionary experiment in the 100-meter butterfly. He swam underwater for the first 35 meters of the race and surfaced to a crowd ovation. He finished fourth in 54.30. His 50-meter split was 24.66.